Caveat Emptor

It will soon be the next financial year and with it will come the new found "Pension Freedoms". No doubt the press will soon be full of stories of people who were duped and miss-sold something. With the exception of those who are not in 100% of their faculties why do people expect to be protected from their own stupidity? If something appears too good to be true then 99.999% of the time it is.

I suspect that many people will be better off if they buy an annuity - with all their faults and low rates of return. According to ageUK the  UK life expectancy estimates at the age of 65 (in reasonable health) are 86.1 for women and 83.6 for men (February 2015). So if you budget on living until 90 for women and 87 for men you are (statistically) going to be OK.

So for me that means my savings etc have to last another 20 years - a happy thought!

Brilliant New Diet - well sort of!

I have just come across this brilliant new diet which I am going to embark on from the 27 April until the 1st May. The brilliant part is that you can eat absolutely any type of food, steak, caviar, lobtser, truffles - you name it you can eat it. You can also drink the finest wines, champagnes - absolutely anything.
There is only one restriction - you budget for each day is £1.

If you are interested in this challenge remember that 1.2 billion people live on less than £1 a day, not just for food and drink but for everything - education, health, housing, travel - the works.
The Live Below the Line campaign does not attempt to replicate this - we couldn't do that and costs are greater in the UK than in poverty stricken countries. But by choosing to eat and drink on just £1 a day for 5 days, you will shine a light on the 1.2 billion people who live below the extreme poverty line and will gain a small insight and better understanding of the choices and challenges you face when restricted by income.

So if you are up for this challenge join by clicking here.

If you would like to sponsor me then click here

Jihadi Brides

Why is the media making such a fuss over three people who of their own free-will left the UK to go to another country? One has to feel sorry for their families but why is it being portrayed as our fault? Surely our sympathies should be with all those young children who were groomed and raped in towns such as Rotherham? This article sums it up very well:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-state/11434343/Lets-stop-making-excuses-for-these-jihadi-brides.html

Another interesting article in a similar vein:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11435008/Racists-are-alive-and-well-in-Britain-but-Im-not-one-of-them.html

Why pray?

Once a man was asked "what do you gain by regularly praying to God?" The man replied, "Nothing.... but let me tell you what I lost: Anger, ego, greed. depression, insecurity and fear of death. Sometimes the answer to our prayers is not gaining but losing, which ultimately is the gain."

Two ways of thinking.

"There are two ways of thinking and of having faith: we can fear to lose the saved and we can want to save the lost. Even today it can happen that we stand at the crossroads of these two ways of thinking. The thinking of the doctors of the law, which would remove danger by casting out the diseased person, and the thinking of God, who in his mercy embraces and accepts by reinstating him and turning evil into good, condemnation into salvation and exclusion into proclamation." -- Pope Francis, 15 February 2015.

The Little way of Fasting – by Fr. Aidan Kieran

The season of Lent is almost upon us, it begins tomorrow on Ash Wednesday. During Lent, we are asked to take on three traditional Christian disciplines: Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving. Today I want to share with you a new insight into fasting which I gained recently.

I’ve generally always dreaded the idea of fasting during Lent. It always seemed to me like a test of endurance, and I never thought I had all that much endurance. Typically I would decide to, say, give up biscuits for the whole of Lent. It would last about ten days, I would have a biscuit and Lent would be over for me. And no matter what people would say about ‘beginning again’ it would never feel the same once failure had set in.
Now, I have learned a new approach to fasting, and it has become a much more appealing prospect.
St Therese of Lisieux teaches us that the “Little things done out of love are those that charm the Heart of Christ… On the contrary, the most brilliant deeds, when done without love, are but nothingness.” These words made me realise that the way I had been approaching the Lenten fast in the past was wrong. Lent is not a test of endurance. It is not even a test of discipline (even though we gain discipline as a by-product). Lent is a little test of LOVE. It is quality the Lord is interested in – not quantity.
I can describe this new approach to fasting – the little way of fasting – with an example. Here is a fast I recently undertook:
At breakfast time I didn’t have my normal cup of tea. I had a cup of hot water instead. It’s not much of a sacrifice is it? But this is the important part: fasting must always be accompanied by prayer. You may remember from the Gospels that on one occasion Jesus told the disciples that a particular evil spirit could only be driven out by prayer AND fasting. The two must be always occur together.
So while I was having my cup of water, I prayed.
I spoke to the Lord Jesus and told him that I was denying myself this 1 cup of tea as an act of love for him. I was doing this so that I might grow in my love for Him. I prayed for others. I asked Him to grant my intentions, but above all I asked him to help me grow in faith and love of Him.
It didn’t matter that it was only a small sacrifice. That’s not what matters to the Lord. What matters is that the sacrifice is accompanied by prayer and offered with a sincere and open loving heart. Fasting must always be accompanied by prayer, and must be done as an act of love for the Lord.
Perhaps you would prefer to go through Our Lady. While fasting, we can also pray through the intercession of Mary, our blessed Mother. I can tell her I am offering my fast as an act of love for her, and ask her to bring me closer to her son Jesus. We give Mary the title ‘mediatrix of all graces’ so we can of course pray through her intercession.
With this approach, fasting has become a wonderfully joyful act. Rather than a miserable endurance test, it becomes a joyful act of offering a sacrifice for the good of others, the good of the Church and above all the good of my own soul. I can have a smile on my face, knowing that the small sacrifice I have made has had a powerful effect in the spiritual life. Since I started this little way of fasting, I have prayed better and I feel I have drawn closer to Christ.
It’s just 1 cup of tea. A little thing, done with great love.
During Lent, I won’t totally deprive myself of other drinks, because I know I would find that too burdensome. My aim is to give up my first cup of tea each morning. On some days I may give up my second cup of tea too! – a definite sacrifice, but one I can realistically sustain. And each time I am conscious of foregoing a drink I would like, I will pray. I will offer my sacrifice to the Lord with a joyful heart and a smile on my face.
I will offer my Lenten fasting for your intentions, for the people who read this blog. In particular I will pray that those of you who need to do so will make a good confession in preparation for Easter, because confession is so important.
And if any of you would like me to pray for a particular intention of yours, please contact me through this blog in the comments section below. I’d be happy to offer my fasting on a particular day for your personal intention.

Where are the "refugee camps" in your parish?

What are you (and me) doing to help? https://billditewig.wordpress.com/2015/02/09/the-popes-challenge-where-would-you-stop/